Bush wants H-1Bs to solve America's problems

Date: Friday, January 26, 2007 7:25 PM

<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 1629 -- 1/26/2007 >>>>>

The Indian press made an accurate interpretation of Bush's speech on
Wednesday to Dupont employees. So far most of the American press has
ignored what Bush said, and those that have mentioned the speech missed the
point. The excellent job of reporting and analysis just might convince me
to support a special visa to import foreign journalists who are willing to
report things that Americans won't!

President George Bush says one aim of his proposed comprehensive
immigration reform was to hike H1B visas to let smart people from
India and elsewhere come to solve America's problems.

The 2nd article by Patrick Thibodeau for Computerworld is excellent and
allows public comments. The comments section seemed very buggy when I used
MS Explorer but was OK with Firefox.

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http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1463611.cms

or

http://www.indolink.com/displayArticleS.php?id=012607115454

Get more smart Indians to US: George Bush
INDOlink News Bureau

Washington; Jan. 26, 2007 - President George Bush says one aim of his
proposed comprehensive immigration reform was to hike H1B visas to let
smart people from India and elsewhere come to solve America's problems.

www.puremail.com
"It makes no sense to say to a young scientist from India, you can't come
to America to help this company develop technologies that help us deal with
our problems," he said in a talk to employees of science major DuPont on
energy issues at Wilmington, Delaware.

"So we've got to change that, as well, change that mindset in Washington,
DC. I know we can work together on that," Bush said Tuesday noting that
"it's in our interests" to allow a smart person from overseas to come and
work in US.

"We've got to expand what's called H1B visas (for skilled foreign
workers)," he said in an aside about the immigration bill. But, it was an
issue "I feel strongly about" and he was looking forward to work with
Congress "to do just that."

The H1B visa program is currently capped at 65,000 and efforts are on to
expand it to 115,000 to meet what high-tech industry executives say is a
worrisome shortage of high skilled people. But critics say inviting more
foreign workers will only displace American workers and drive down
salaries.

The last Congress rejected such a measure, but a new bill is expected to be
introduced again in the 110th Democratic controlled Congress.

While Bush cited the example of India to make a case for freer movement of
skilled professionals, he pointed to the growing economies of India and
China to press for an expansion of trade saying they could help meet
America 's energy challenges.

"We're in a global economy. And so when the Chinese economy grows, or the
Indian economy grows - which we want it to do, by the way - when their
economy grows, it provides markets for your products," he said. "So it's in
our interests that we trade."

But one has to understand that when the globe becomes interconnected
economically, the demand increases in other countries can cause the price
of oil to go up in US, and it has an economic effect on America's own
economy, he said.

"The more dependent we are on oil from overseas, the more likely it is that
somebody else's demand is going to affect what you pay at the pump for
gasoline," Bush said explaining his stress on developing new technologies
to get over what he has famously described as America's addiction to oil.

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http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9009144

Bush wants H-1B visa cap hike
Patrick Thibodeau

January 25, 2007 (Computerworld) WASHINGTON -- President Bush yesterday
called for an increase in the federal cap on H-1B visas, an issue he said
he feels "strongly" about and wants to work with Congress to make happen.

Bush, who spoke at E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. in Wilmington, Del., is
on the road pushing some of the proposals (download PDF)made in his State
of the Union address Tuesday night. More than 1,000 DuPont employees heard
him talk, according to the company.

Bush did not mention H-1B visas in his Tuesday address to Congress, but at
DuPont he told employees: "I also want you to know I understand that we
need to make sure that when a smart person from overseas wants to come and
work in DuPont, it's in our interests to allow him or her to do so." His
remarks were included in a transcript of his speech to the DuPont workers.

"We've got to expand what's called H-1B visas," said Bush.

The president went on to say: "I feel strongly about what I'm telling you.
It makes no sense to say to a young scientist from India, 'You can't come
to America to help this company develop technologies that help us deal with
our problems.' So we've got to change that..., change that mind-set in
Washington, D.C. I know we can work together on that."

This is not the first time Bush has asked Congress to allow more H-1B
workers into the U.S. Indeed, Bush's remarks about the program at DuPont
are almost a cut-and-paste job from a talk he gave in February 2006 at 3M
Co.'s headquarters in St. Paul, Minn.

In that speech, Bush said there was a need to fill high-tech jobs in the
U.S. "And so one way to deal with this problem, and probably the most
effective way, is to recognize that there's a lot of bright engineers and
chemists and physicists from other lands that are either educated here, or
received an education elsewhere but want to work here. And they come here
under a program called H-1B visas," said Bush.

Bush called on Congress last year to raise the cap, but it failed to do so,
leaving the limit at 65,000. There are exemptions, however, including
20,000 additional visas for foreign nationals who graduate from U.S.
colleges and universities with advanced degrees.

In supplemental material prepared by the White House about the president's
State of the Union address, the issue of temporary workers from other
countries was discussed. It said, in part: "Such a program will serve the
needs of our economy by providing a lawful and fair way to match willing
employers with willing foreign workers to fill jobs that Americans have not
taken."

Ron Hira, vice president of career activities at IEEE-USA, a unit of the
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., said he and the
IEEE "wholeheartedly endorse this principle. But the H-1B program does not
meet it."

Under the H-1B program, "employers do not have to search for Americans, and
can prefer an H-1B [visa holder] over an American citizen or green card
holder. So, if the President is arguing to reform the H-1B program, then
this is great. But I doubt he is."

Congress is expected to see legislation calling for an increase in the H-1B
cap, but whether that effort will be approved by the new Congress is
unclear.

DuPont outsources much of its IT operations to Computer Sciences Corp. It
signed outsourcing pact in 1997 for 10 years and in 2005 extended that
agreement to 2014. The subsequent contract is worth as much as $2 billion.

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